Discontinuation or reduction in benzodiazepine use by treatment with the traditional herbal medicine Hangekobokuto, case reports

Ryo Yoshinaga; Toshinobu Maki; Yusuke Goto; Hiroki Inoue; Hiromi Yano; Eiichi Tahara

doi:10.1002/jgf2.313

Discontinuation or reduction in benzodiazepine use by treatment with the traditional herbal medicine Hangekobokuto, case reports

J Gen Fam Med. 2020 Apr 1;21(4):143-145. doi: 10.1002/jgf2.313. eCollection 2020 Jul.

Authors

Ryo Yoshinaga¹, Toshinobu Maki¹, Yusuke Goto¹, Hiroki Inoue¹, Hiromi Yano¹, Eiichi Tahara¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Japanese Oriental Medicine Iizuka Hospital Iizuka City Japan.

Abstract

In this report, we present two cases in which benzodiazepines (BZDs) were able to be successfully reduced or discontinued by treatment with traditional Japanese herbal medicine (Kampo medicine), including Hangekobokuto (HKT). These two patients with long-term use of BZDs due to mental disorders suffered epigastric symptoms. After starting Kampo therapy including HKT, their epigastric symptoms were improved and they were able to reduce or discontinue the use of BZDs. This suggests that HKT is a potentially promising substitutive pharmacotherapy for patients with long-term use of BZDs. HKT should be considered as a treatment for patients with mental disorders who have taken BZDs for a long time and suffer from medically unexplained epigastric symptoms.

Keywords: effect of medication; elderly; polypharmacy; use of medication.

Publication types

Case Reports